ABSTRACT

In 2000 the American electoral system was tested by a political ordeal unlike any in living memory. From November 7 until December 12 the outcome of the presidential election was fought out in bitter political and legal struggles that ranged throughout the state of Florida and ultimately extended to the Supreme Court of the United States. Not since 1876�77 has the outcome of a national election remained so unsettled, for so long. That nineteenth century political crisis brought the United States close to a renewal of civil war. Fortunately no danger of armed conflict shadowed the country in this more recent crisis. The American political system proved its resilience.

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